Maybe you have a passion for snakes yourself and want to pass that along to your children. Or it could be that they have been bugging you about getting one and you’ve finally, after swearing to the highest heavens you never would, broken down and agreed to consider it. Whatever the case there are somethings that you should take into account before you buy a snake for a kid.

#1) They harbor salmonella
Snakes, like all reptiles, carry salmonella on their skin. Your child needs to be old enough to know better than to lick the animal, or handle it and then chew on his or her fingers. They say 3 or under is too young, but I don’t believe that is the case. It depends on the child and only you know your kid well enough. I’ve seen full grown adults who shouldn’t be handling snakes because they pick their noses and bite their nails without considering the animal they were holding a few minutes before.

#2) Some are simply inappropriate for children
All snakes are incredibly and deceptively strong, but there are some that just have no business around kids. I’m talking about full grown Burmese Pythons, Reticulated Pythons, Boa Constrictors, and others like those. Even adults should only handle them with assistance, but kids should never be responsible for animals of that size. Another type of snake, regardless of size, that you should avoid giving to a child are venomous ones. Not that we need to get into a great deal of discussion about “hots” in this article but we do need to make mention of it.

#3) Age isn’t just a number when it comes to snakes
Keeping any pet is a major obligation for a kid. But a snake is a whole new level of responsibility both for the child and for the parent or guardian. More than age it requires maturity. I’m going out on a limb here and assuming you’re not interested in cleaning up snake poop, feeding dead rodents to a snake, disinfecting the cage, or any of the rest of the mundane activities required for your child’s snake to thrive. But is your son or daughter mature enough to do it?

#4) They cost more than you think
First you have to buy all the supplies necessary to properly house a snake. Next you have to buy the snake itself. Finally you need to be prepared to continually invest in the animal. Food, bedding, electric to keep the heat and humidity right, vet bills, and all the rest of it. If your kid isn’t working you will be paying for all of those things. Don’t get me wrong I believe it is well worth the investment but if your budget is already thin getting a snake might be more expensive than you are prepared for.

This article did not cover every concern you could possibly have and it wasn’t meant to. It’s purpose is to get you to think about a few things you might not have as you’ve started looking into getting a snake for your kid. I’d like to recommend the following snakes as good candidates for children. I’ve also included a link to appropriate reading materials about the species on Amazon.

Even though there are approximately 2700 species of snakes in the world they only kill their prey in three different ways. We’ve included 3 examples of each of the three ways snakes kill and eat. In some of the videos you’ll notice the prey is already dead (frozen thawed) while in others the snake has to hunt it and kill it. Regardless if the prey is alive or dead you will see the snake going through the process of capturing and killing it. For some people the following videos will be disturbing. They show snakes killing and eating other animals.

Eating their prey alive
This method is neither eloquent nor impressive, but it is effective. These snakes simply overpower their prey and start swallowing it alive. Due to the fact that snakes have hundreds of backwards curved teeth once the prey is in the snakes mouth it is all but impossible for it to escape being swallowed.

Constricting their prey to death and then eating
With the popularity in the pet trade of medium to large sized constrictors this is the most widely known and observed method a snake uses to kill its prey. The snake seizes the prey animal with its mouth, throws some coils around it and then begins to constrict. When the prey exhales the snake tightens the coils preventing the prey from inhaling. This continues until the prey is dead. It was recently discovered that Boa Constrictors can sense that the heartbeat of the prey has stopped at which point it will begin the process of eating the meal.

Envenoming their prey with deadly saliva
The final method snakes use to subdue their prey in order to eat it is envenomation. The snake bites through the skin of the prey and injects saliva into the wound. This saliva is known as venom and causes a deadly reaction in the prey animal’s body which leads to death. Please do not attempt to keep venomous snakes of any kind without the proper training. One mistake is likely to kill you.

Today Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a federal ban on 4 species of injurious snakes. Ostensibly this was done to protect the Florida Everglades which some people claim has become the home to hundreds of thousands of invasive Burmese Pythons. Before we get into why that claim is bogus we’ll take a look at what exactly this ban means, what snakes were banned, what snakes face a ban in the future, and what led us to this point today.

What does the snake ban mean?

Before the average snake keeper panics let me be perfectly clear. This ban will in no way, shape or form impact you. Unless…

You move across state lines:
If you own one of the 4 banned species of snakes you will not be able to transport it, or its eggs across state lines once the ban goes into effect

You plan to (re)patriate to the United States:
Short and not-so-sweet fact is that once the ban becomes official you will not be able to bring one of the four banned snakes into the United States. Anywhere.

You had plans to begin breeding and selling these snakes:
Since you can’t move these snakes or their eggs across state lines (or into the United States) you will lose the vast majority of your potential buyers.

The real impact of this ban will be shouldered by small business owners who breed, raise and sell these snakes for their livelihood. There are some breeders who have invested everything into these snakes. Time, money, blood, sweat and even tears. This ban has, with the stroke of a pen, wiped out hundreds if not thousands of businesses across the United States. For as many businesses as it has destroyed it has greatly harmed many, many more.

Let’s look at this logically and you draw your own conclusions –

Acme Snake Breeders (ASB)specializes in proving out Burmese Python morphs. In order to produce a line of morphs that is unique in the snake world they have invested tens of thousands of dollars in buying Burmese pythons from other breeders. They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on climate controlled facilities to ensure the snakes have an optimal environment to live in. This money is spent with small businesses that design, manufacture and sell things like heat tape, caging, and thermostats. ASB also spends thousands of dollars a month buying food for the snakes from small businesses that specialize in breeding and selling feeders.

Now instead of one business going under consider that this ban will result in hundreds of businesses going under. While I don’t agree with some who claim the economic impact will be catastrophic there is no doubt it will be huge. Particularly for the businesses and families directly impacted by the ban.

Some of your reading this might wonder why ASB doesn’t just switch to breeding a species of snake that has not been banned. The problem with that is that they likely have very little money to invest on starting a new line of designer morphs using another species of snake. Remember the market has just been torn out from under them due to this ban. The hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory they were sitting on has just become worthless from a business standpoint. After all who is going to invest in a $10,000 snake when their is virtually no chance of selling the offspring to make any of that money back? In other words they have all kinds of money tied up in inventory that they can no longer liquidate. Years of breeding and proving out genetics has just been flushed down the crapper. All due to ignorance that allowed this ban to pass.

*: Note that the African Rock Python is one species with the Northern and Southern sub-species both being banned

Snakes that face an uncertain future

Originally the intent was to ban a total of 9 species of snake (pet snakes opposes s373). Due in large part to the efforts of individuals and organizations such as US Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) 5 of the intended targets were removed from the list. However it would be the very peak of ignorance to assume that those five species are safe from future efforts to ban them. In fact the President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (Wayne Pacelle) has openly declared his organizations displeasure that the ban of the 4 species included did not go far enough.

The Humane Society of the United States is disappointed that the Obama administration dramatically weakened an Interior Department proposal to list nine species of large constrictor snakes as “injurious” under the Lacey Act, which would prohibit importation and interstate movement of these deadly non-native snakes as pets…

“This rule was swallowed up in the federal bureaucracy for 22 months, and put through a political meat grinder, leaving us with a severely diminished final action,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS, which was one of dozens of groups pushing for the enactment of the original proposal. “We expect trade to shift to the species omitted from the trade ban, and we can only hope that the Interior Department takes a careful look and revisits the issue.”HSUS comment on ban of only 4 species of snakes

Secretary Salazar has not ruled out a possible inclusion of more snakes in the future.

Salazar said his agency his “going after those species that present the greatest threat right now” and that five other species are being scrutinized scientifically and for the economic implications of banning those as well.DOI: scrutinizing 5 more species of snakes

In addition to the Department of the Interior’s Salazar and the HSUS’s Pacelle there are a number of so-called animal welfare and environmental special interest groups who are not pleased with only four snake species being banned. In short they all believe that the reptile industry in the United States has over estimated our value which caused the Obama administration to err on the side of caution.

How we got to where we are

We didn’t reach this point by accident. This was a perfect storm of public outcry, political pandering, irresponsible ownership and a flash point known as the Florida Everglades.

When Travis the chimp attacked Charla Nash it put the owners of exotic animals in general in the spotlight. The state of Connecticut, in typical knee-jerk fashion, not only decided to start enforcing a ban on private ownership of exotic animals that had been in place since 2003 but also made the law more restrictive. It was at this point that the general American public got a first hand glimpse of how dangerous exotic animals could be when not properly cared for.

Later that same year 2 year old Shaunia Hare was killed by a Burmese python while she slept in her crib. It just happened to be that Senator Bill Nelson (D) of Florida was making another attempt to get a ban on large constrictor snakes enacted when this tragedy unfolded. And in true political fashion Mr. Nelson seized the opportunity afforded him by the girls death.

It is no secret that groups like the Humane Society of the United States have deep pockets. Pockets with money that politicians and other organizations love to get their hands on. But no one will claim that the HSUS did this alone. Many groups came together in an effort to foist this ban on the American public. Especially environmental and animal rights groups.

I would be remiss not to spend some time pointing the finger where it most needs pointing. At snake owners and breeders who were more concerned with turning a profit than protecting their animals. It was the breeders who sold large and potentially dangerous snakes to people who had no business keeping them. It was the owners who did not educate themselves on what was required to keep a 15 foot, 250 pound snake safely. It was the breeders that didn’t spend a second their time educating the buyer about what to expect. It was the owner who after 18 to 24 months realized the 18 inch cute little worm was now upwards of 8 to 10 feet and overpowering grown men. It was the breeders who flooded the market with these snakes to make a quick dollar. It was the breeders and the owners who instead of euthanizing the snakes turned them loose in the Everglades.

Clearly the above does not apply to all breeders or all owners. In fact it applies to a small minority of them, but the damage done has impacted everyone.

A call to action
This is so simple it shouldn’t even need to be said. Contact your Senators and your Congress men/women and tell them why you oppose the ban. Remember, this is a ruling by the Interior department not an act of Congress. Yes, it is legally binding and yes you do have to follow it, but you can mobilize your politicians to step in and put and end to it.

Some other sites might construct you a letter to use when contacting your representative, or the President but we won’t do that here. If you really want your voice counted you will put into your own words why you oppose this ban and how it affects you and your family on a personal level. You’ll make an emotional connection with your statement and your representative will look at it in a whole different light. Remember Senator Nelson of Florida wanted to get lawmakers to enact a ban but when they wouldn’t do so he circumvented the process by bringing the Department of the Interior into play. Return the favor and get the lawmakers involved once again.

Photo by:Andy_Mitchell_UK
So you’ve got your heart set on taking home that snake from the pet store today, but you know next to nothing about snakes and you’re not certain the pet store employee knows what they are talking about either. But it’s just too good a deal to pass up so you gladly hand over several hundred dollars for the snake, a homely looking Ball Python and a kit which includes; a a new snake tank, something to keep the tank heated, one or two hides for your new snake, a bag of substrate, a water bowl, a cheap thermometer to keep the temperature regulated, and a hygrometer to make sure the humidity is correct. You might even get lucky and get a book thrown in with it that is supposed to tell you everything you need to know to properly care for your new pet.

Then you get home and set everything up only to realize you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. You can’t keep the temperature stable without dropping the humidity way to low. You get the humidity up and your substrate molds. In fact, you’re not even sure the cheap stick-on thermometer and hygrometer are even working properly.

But you keep trying and speaking of trying you’ve been trying to get your snake to eat for the past week. Twice a day you offer it a mouse, that has started to become more of a pet because you don’t know anything about feeding a pet snake.

Then one day you notice your shiny new snake looks like an old piece of luggage and its eyes are a grayish blue color. You start searching online and realize these are just signs that your snake is getting ready to shed it’s skin. After a few weeks it clears up and you see no shed so you start to get worried that your snake has eaten its shed skin.

A few days later you walk in and it has shed it’s skin. At least it has tried but because you didn’t have the proper humidity and didn’t make a humid hide patches of old skin are stuck all over your snake.

After all this trouble you’re starting to wonder why snakes make good pets. In fact, after it soiled its cage and you had to clean the tank for the first time you’re starting to think you might have made a big mistake getting a snake for a pet.

The good news is it doesn’t have to be like that. You can learn as much as possible before you buy a new snake. If you do that you’ll be far better educated than the typical new pet snake owner that ends up learning as they go.

Many young boys (and girls) have gone into the woods to catch a snake and turn it into a pet. This is often how a love of snakes and other reptiles develops. For many of us age doesn’t change our desire to be out among nature, looking for snakes as we go. But the distance we travel to find them grows considerably and so does the risk. In this article we will be discussing outdoor safety.

At this point you might be asking if I’m qualified to speak on outdoor safety. I believe I am based on the following:

I’ve hunted, fished and camped since I was 5 years old

Been a member of a wilderness Search and Rescue Team

Spent several summers in the woods fighting wildfires

Spent a fair amount of time working timber sales, surveys, and habitat restoration projects, all in the woods

Know where you are going and let someone else know too
Don’t just hop in your car and start driving. Plan your trip a head of time. Know the area you’ll be in and the times you plan to be there. Then let someone else know as well. I don’t mean your Facebook friends (though that’s not a bad idea) but rather someone you know in person who lives near you. Give them the following information:

The general vicinity marked out on a map showing where you will be. You can use Google Maps for this

The expected arrival and departure times from the area. If you are crossing timezones account for that as well

Who you will be there with and their contact information

Make, model, year and color of the vehicle you will be driving

That might seem like a lot of information to give someone but if anything happens it will give the search teams a lot better chance at finding you.

Take the proper equipment
For the sake of this article we will assume you’re only going to be chasing reptiles for a single day. If in fact you are going to go on a multi-day herping expedition you’ll need to account for that as well. I’ll break this into 3 parts. Items you must have, items you should have, and items it would be nice to have.

First aid kit. This could save your life. And be sure you know how to use it

Appropriate footwear. Count on getting blisters if you don’t

Food to snack on. Like water take more than you think you will need

A change of clothes. You never know when you’ll fall in a creek or have some other mishap that warm dry clothes are needed to recover from

Florescent flagging. This is a biodegradable tape you tie to brush and trees to help mark your way. Even if you don’t use it, carry it

A decent pocket knife

Water proof matches. No, these aren’t meant to start a campfire. A signal fire if need be, yes, but not a campfire. Remember, scrape the ground down to the bare ground at least 10 feet in all directs from where you start a signal fire. You want to be found not burn down the entire forest and be hit up for a $500,000 suppression bill

Flashlight with spare batteries and bulbs. Assume you’ll be stuck out there after dark

Items you should have

Map and compass. You’ll need to know how to use both before you bother with them so learn and then practice. Also, avoid maps you get at tourist centers. Those are generally very generic. Instead go and speak to your local BLM, Forest Service, or State Forest y field offices. You can find thier contact information in the phone book. You want a map that really shows the features of the area you will be in and those are good places to get them

A reptile field guide for animals found in the area you will be working in. I’d suggest a field guide that covers all flora and fauna but that might be a little bit too much

Toilet paper and baby wipes. Believe it or not wiping with leaves and bark isn’t nearly as cool as it sounds

Hand wipes. If you have to use the toilet paper and baby wipes you’ll thank me for reminding you to bring these. Not to mention when you catch a snake it may well poop and pee on you

Some parachute cord. Great for lashing things together if you need to make a shelter or splint a broken leg

Insect repellant. Don’t care what anyone says nothing works as well as DEET. Don’t find out the hard way that I’m right and the guy at your local Earth Love store didn’t have a clue. Being eating alive by bugs will ruin your day faster than almost anything else

Items it would be nice to have

Small satellite weather radio

Handheld gps

A digital camera with lithium ion batteries plus some spares

Another person to go with you; the buddy system is the best way to explore the woods

You’ll probably notice I left a cell phone off the list. When you get into the woods you often won’t have service.

Practice before you go
Going out in the woods is not a joke. People die because they aren’t prepared. They get injured, or lost. So spend a few weeks before it’s time to go looking for herps getting yourself ready. Not only could it save you at the extreme it will make the trip a lot more pleasurable if you aren’t spending the entire day nursing wounds, trying to figure out where you are and parched because you don’t have enough water.

Other than that have a great time catching snakes in the wild and when you get some pictures we’d love to see them over on our Facebook page

Note: A reader from Facebook mentioned that in Arizona you must possess a hunting license in order to capture reptiles. I was not aware of this requirement and that’s a good reason to check the laws of the state you will be field herping in. Here is a link to the applicable regulations regarding this in the state of Arizona. Notice how even taking pictures of wildlife for commercial purposes is regulated?